TG3K
Fractal Fanatic
We payed two gigs this weekend, and this was the first time I'd had my new Axe-Fx III out of the house and playing with the band. Although I've spent a fair amount of time trying to get my presets on the new rig to sound similar to what I've been using with my AFX II for the past 4+ years, I've not had a chance to hear it with the band until now.
I first converted all of my AFX II presets to the AFX III format via FracTool. That got me rolling, but I wanted to just use that as a starting point and revisit everything from amp and cab selections to effects and routing. In the process of redoing all of my previous per-song presets, I tried to take advantage of things I've learned since I originally set the old presets up. (Cooper Carter's Masterclass was a big education, as were a lot of Leon Todd's videos.) I simplified where I could and removed unneeded effects. I also added new effects like the Plex delay to some presets that could benefit from them. I re-leveled everything, using the meters first, and then using my ears through our PA speakers at gig volume. (In my living room, so granted it still wasn't getting the full effect of a gig environment. I'm fortunate that I have a tolerant wife who's willing to watch TV in the other room with the volume on 11 while I loop three power chords or a couple of lead licks for 5 minutes at a time, lol.) I also concentrated on using scenes instead of individual IA switches, since my rig upgrade also included going from 17 buttons on an MFC-101 to 6 on the FC-6. (I did add a third expression pedal though, and that has already been handy. More on that later.)
I'll give the pros and cons from my point of view.
The Cons:
I think any negatives were of my own doing. Even though I went through every preset and tried to set levels to what I anticipated I'd need, I would have benefited from the luxury of one or two band rehearsals before playing the new rig live in front of an audience. (Due to our day jobs, our band seldom has a chance to rehearse. And when we do, it's at living room volume.) In many cases, I had to guess how much louder some scenes needed to be in relation to others. We don't have a sound guy running FOH -- I do that with a tablet from the stage -- so any bumps or drops in volume have to either be pre-programmed in my scenes or handled manually with a volume pedal. I have a volume block on every preset linked to a foot controller, so it's easy for me to adjust my level down if need be. Adjusting it up is a bit more difficult. With the old rig I had a 4 dB null filter boost on every preset, assigned to an IA switch. I used it for the times when I needed my guitar to be a bit more "out front". I did the same on the new rig and it came in handy. I also added a second 5 dB boost filter block and tied it to my third (and otherwise unused) expression pedal, just in case the extra 4 dB wasn't enough, or in case I only needed to sneak in a couple of dB boost. That also came in handy, but it was intended as only a temporary solution until I get things dialed in better...I'd like to eventually have that foot controller available for other tricks. But in the end, I had a few presets that were way too loud. I also had a few that were way too soft, even with both boost filter blocks engaged. Those will be fixed before the next gig.
In a few cases, I also misjudged things like reverb or delay levels. Some were too much, and others needed more. Same with bright switches, and in a few cases, amp or cab choices. Those were also noted and should be easy to fix. For the second show this weekend, I had my wife take notes for me, so I can go back through the presets and fix the various issues I found.
The Pros:
The sound! The feel! I've been reading for over a year how much better the AFX III sounds and feels compared to the AFX II. I've loved using the II, and couldn't imagine the III would be that much better. I was wrong. I use a lot of clean and edge of breakup sounds. Not only was I blown away by the realness of the tones, I heard lots of positive comments from guys I consider to be great guitarists who heard me this weekend and had heard me before with the AFX II. Especially on the clean tones. Tons of clarity and no brittleness or ice pick to the ears. And IMO, the feel was as real as any tube amp I've ever played. My crunchier tones were also good, but in several cases I need to rethink my cab selection and room settings. I had several dirty presets that were too boomy or dark. Those should be easy to fix by the next gig.
The FC-6 proved to be plenty flexible and powerful enough for me to handle a live show. I still to need to get used to a few new workflows, but all in all, the shows this weekend had fewer tap-dancing malfunctions than my typical gigs did with the MFC-101. And any errors on my part were fast and easy to recover from.
I'm very certain that once I get my levels adjusted and make a few minor tonal tweaks to a handful of presets, this new rig is going to blow me away at every show, as well as my band and any audience members who are paying attention.
Many thanks to Cliff and the FAS team, as well as others like Cooper and Leon and everyone else here on the forum who shares tricks and ideas so freely. I am indeed an Fractalite for life.
I first converted all of my AFX II presets to the AFX III format via FracTool. That got me rolling, but I wanted to just use that as a starting point and revisit everything from amp and cab selections to effects and routing. In the process of redoing all of my previous per-song presets, I tried to take advantage of things I've learned since I originally set the old presets up. (Cooper Carter's Masterclass was a big education, as were a lot of Leon Todd's videos.) I simplified where I could and removed unneeded effects. I also added new effects like the Plex delay to some presets that could benefit from them. I re-leveled everything, using the meters first, and then using my ears through our PA speakers at gig volume. (In my living room, so granted it still wasn't getting the full effect of a gig environment. I'm fortunate that I have a tolerant wife who's willing to watch TV in the other room with the volume on 11 while I loop three power chords or a couple of lead licks for 5 minutes at a time, lol.) I also concentrated on using scenes instead of individual IA switches, since my rig upgrade also included going from 17 buttons on an MFC-101 to 6 on the FC-6. (I did add a third expression pedal though, and that has already been handy. More on that later.)
I'll give the pros and cons from my point of view.
The Cons:
I think any negatives were of my own doing. Even though I went through every preset and tried to set levels to what I anticipated I'd need, I would have benefited from the luxury of one or two band rehearsals before playing the new rig live in front of an audience. (Due to our day jobs, our band seldom has a chance to rehearse. And when we do, it's at living room volume.) In many cases, I had to guess how much louder some scenes needed to be in relation to others. We don't have a sound guy running FOH -- I do that with a tablet from the stage -- so any bumps or drops in volume have to either be pre-programmed in my scenes or handled manually with a volume pedal. I have a volume block on every preset linked to a foot controller, so it's easy for me to adjust my level down if need be. Adjusting it up is a bit more difficult. With the old rig I had a 4 dB null filter boost on every preset, assigned to an IA switch. I used it for the times when I needed my guitar to be a bit more "out front". I did the same on the new rig and it came in handy. I also added a second 5 dB boost filter block and tied it to my third (and otherwise unused) expression pedal, just in case the extra 4 dB wasn't enough, or in case I only needed to sneak in a couple of dB boost. That also came in handy, but it was intended as only a temporary solution until I get things dialed in better...I'd like to eventually have that foot controller available for other tricks. But in the end, I had a few presets that were way too loud. I also had a few that were way too soft, even with both boost filter blocks engaged. Those will be fixed before the next gig.
In a few cases, I also misjudged things like reverb or delay levels. Some were too much, and others needed more. Same with bright switches, and in a few cases, amp or cab choices. Those were also noted and should be easy to fix. For the second show this weekend, I had my wife take notes for me, so I can go back through the presets and fix the various issues I found.
The Pros:
The sound! The feel! I've been reading for over a year how much better the AFX III sounds and feels compared to the AFX II. I've loved using the II, and couldn't imagine the III would be that much better. I was wrong. I use a lot of clean and edge of breakup sounds. Not only was I blown away by the realness of the tones, I heard lots of positive comments from guys I consider to be great guitarists who heard me this weekend and had heard me before with the AFX II. Especially on the clean tones. Tons of clarity and no brittleness or ice pick to the ears. And IMO, the feel was as real as any tube amp I've ever played. My crunchier tones were also good, but in several cases I need to rethink my cab selection and room settings. I had several dirty presets that were too boomy or dark. Those should be easy to fix by the next gig.
The FC-6 proved to be plenty flexible and powerful enough for me to handle a live show. I still to need to get used to a few new workflows, but all in all, the shows this weekend had fewer tap-dancing malfunctions than my typical gigs did with the MFC-101. And any errors on my part were fast and easy to recover from.
I'm very certain that once I get my levels adjusted and make a few minor tonal tweaks to a handful of presets, this new rig is going to blow me away at every show, as well as my band and any audience members who are paying attention.
Many thanks to Cliff and the FAS team, as well as others like Cooper and Leon and everyone else here on the forum who shares tricks and ideas so freely. I am indeed an Fractalite for life.
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